CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW In compliance with clause 3 of rule XIII of the House of Representatives, there is printed below in roman existing law in which no change is proposed by the bill as reported. Matter proposed to be stricken by the bill as reported is enclosed in black brackets. New language proposed by the bill as reported is printed in italic. (c) Cities and incorporated towns are included in that district in which are included the counties within the exterior boundaries of which such cities and incorporated towns are geographically located or out of the territory of which they have been incorporated. 90TH CONGRESS 2d Session } HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPORT No. 1085 REDUCTION OF RATIO OF CAREER SUBSTITUTE EMPLOYEES TO REGULAR EMPLOYEES IN POSTAL FIELD SERVICE FEBRUARY 6, 1968.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. Nix, from the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H.R. 14934] The Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 14934) to reduce from five to four the ratio of career substitute employees to regular employees in the postal field service, and for other purposes. having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. AMENDMENT The amendment is as follows: Page 2, immediately following line 21, insert the following section: SEC. 2. Effective as of the beginning of the first applicable pay period which began on or after October 1, 1967, the per annum (gross) rate of compensation of the position of Superintendent of Garages (House Office Buildings) under the Architect of the Capitol is $12,540. Such position is subject to the provisions, pertaining to the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, in section 212 of the Federal Salary Act of 1967 (81 Stat. 634; Public Law 90-206), relating to the implementation of salary comparability policy. PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT The amendment corrects an oversight as a result of which the Superintendent of Garages did not receive a pay increase granted all other legislative employees by the Federal Salary Act of 1967, Public Law 90-206. The amendment will grant a 42-percent increase in compensation to this employee and assure him of any increase that may be granted in July 1969 and in July 1970, pursuant to implementation of the salary comparability policy of section 212, Public Law 90–206. PURPOSE The purpose of this legislation is to permit the Postmaster General to increase the number of career substitute postal employees in relation to the number of regular postal employees, with a corresponding reduction in the number of temporary employees, in order to provide a more stable work force and to remove the undesirable situation resulting from the excessively high turnover rate of temporary employees. STATEMENT This legislation is based on an official recommendation of the Postmaster General. H.R. 14934, will change the ratio prescribed by existing law (39 U.S.C. 3302) of five regular employees of the postal field service to one career substitute, to a ratio of 4 to 1. The 5-to-1 ratio was enacted into law in 1955. This restriction on career substitutes, by necessity, has forced the Post Office Department to hire an excessive number of temporary employees. Several events have occurred since 1955 which require that this matter receive immediate legislative attention. The provisions of sections 3571 and 3573 of title 39, United States Code, relating to hours of work and overtime compensation for postal employees, were changed considerably by the Federal Employees Salary Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-301), to require that all regular employees be assigned to a basic workweek of 5 full 8-hour days, and that the hours of service of such employees could not extend over a longer period than 12 consecutive hours. These provisions also were amended to require the payment of overtime compensation to a substitute employee for work in excess of 40 hours in a week. These changes tended to reduce, for economic reasons, the use of regular employees for half-days on Saturdays, and of substitute employees for work in excess of 40 hours a week, in order to avoid the payment of overtime, thereby creating a greater demand for additional substitute employees. The off-day coverage in the clerical and mail handling force has lagged behind in recent years because of budgetary limitations, which necessarily restrict the authorization and the hiring of additional regular employees to provide for the off-day coverage. Consequently, the off-day coverage must be by substitute employees. Since there no longer is a sufficient number of career substitutes under the ratio to fill the gap left by the lag in authorizing regular positions to provide off-day coverage, it has become necessary to utilize temporary substitute employees. H.R. 1085 Normal absences on approved leave, including regular off-days, vary from 23 to 35 percent in the postal service on any given day. This exceeds the present flexibility of career substitutes which, under the 5 to 1 ratio, provides only about 20 percent. Another reason for use of substitutes rather than regulars arises by reason of around-the-clock daily mail processing requirements. The substitutes are used to fill in outside the 40-hour week schedule. These changes in legislation and the tremendous increase in mail volume, resulting in the requirement for additional employees, coupled with budgetary limitations with the resulting attempts to keep the number of regular employees at the lowest possible minimum-all have resulted in a situation requiring legislation at the earliest possible opportunity to change the ratio in order that additional career substitutes may be appointed in lieu of the excessive number of temporary employees. Temporary employees are not career employees. They generally are not entitled to the fringe benefits granted Federal employees, such as civil service retirement, Federal life insurance, or Federal health benefits. The temporary employee usually acquires no job security. The turnover rate for temporary substitute postal employees is 89.9 percent, the highest of any group of employees in the postal service, as compared with a turnover rate of 32.6 percent for career substitute employees, and 8.2 percent for regular employees. The Post Office Department is attempting to replace temporary employees with career employees wherever economically justifiable. The legislation proposed by this bill will assist the Department in obtaining this goal. APPLICATION OF RATIO The 5 to 1 ratio of regulars to career substitutes is applied on the basis of the number of regular employees in each post office in each of several categories. The ratio is not applied on the basis of the total number of regular employees in the postal field service to the total number of career substitutes. The application of the 1 to 4 ratio to each of the current five categories in each post office would have the effect of increasing the maximum number of career substitute positions by approximately 23,000, and result in a corresponding reduction in the number of temporary appointments. However, the elimination of supervisors. from the total number of regular clerks, as proposed by this bill, and the use of a 4 to 1 ratio is estimated to result in a total increase of approximately 17,000 career substitute positions in first- and secondclass post offices. In third-class post offices there are, as of December 1967, 110 regular employees, 5,300 career substitutes, and 14,000 temporary employees. The ratio is not applied at third-class post offices because of the small number of regular employees in any particular post office. The number of employees by regular, career substitute, and temporary substitute caregories in first- and second-class post offices as of December 1967, and a breakdown of the number of temporary employees, is set forth below. There also is included a table showing the application of the ratio at three specific post offices. H.R. 10S5 REGULAR AND SUBSTITUTE EMPLOYEES 1ST- AND 2D-CLASS POST OFFICES DECEMBER 1967 TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES IN 1ST-CLASS POST OFFICES OF 25 OR MORE EMPLOYEES, Postal assistants (students). DEC. 15, 1963 Could be converted to hourly rate regulars.. Temporary appointments pending establishment of a register (TAPER)- (b) Additional number could be converted under 1-to-4 ratio.. Others... Total 11,000 8,000 7,000 6, 500 8, 500 41, 000 The Department plans to continue the temporary postal assistants, and to establish approximately 8,000 additional hourly rate regulars. The new 1-to-4 ratio will permit conversion of a major portion of the remaining 22,000 temporaries to career appointments. |